Doing your Homework

You thought that homework stopped when you graduated from school. In the world of business, you never stop learning if you want to go as far as the road will take you. To that end, it is time to do a little homework for your content – keyword research.

Now, you don’t have to be stellar at research in order to get this done and get it done right. Keyword research is finding the words that will rank your content and your website head and shoulders above the rest. Are you ready? Let’s begin.

Conducting Keyword Research

There are a few things that you can do:

1.     Create a list of words. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. What words would you input to find you? Write down as many as you can. Better yet, record them in an electronic spreadsheet for easier editing later. Choose single words and multiple word phrases.

2.     Ask your customers. You already have some customers. Survey them to find out how they found you. If it was through an Internet search ask what words they used. It seems too easy, but most business owners overlook such a resource because they don’t ask the right questions.

3.     Use keyword software tools. These tools can be very helpful once you have your list of possible keywords. The software will let you know a variety of things about your keywords and whether they are good enough to reach your target audience.

4.     Analyze the data. From your list, whittle down to just the keywords that are likely to get you what you want. Then, rank those keywords in order of best to worst.

5.     Try out those keywords. Don’t use all of them at one time, but keep track of which ones you use and for how long. Using website management tools you can find out how much traffic and conversion (how many people used your keyword content as a means to do something – click, sign up, or buy) rates changed.

So, are you ready? You obviously already use content, but maybe it isn’t working well enough. There are always ways to make it better and keywords are one of those ways.

Why do you make the tough decisions? Simply put, you love what you do. The love of money will be given serious second thoughts when sales fall like rain. How about that first grouchy unsatisfied customer? He or she will be a test of wills for anyone.

Part of going into business for yourself is to make a difference – in your life, in the world and in your family. All of these dynamics play into your attitude towards your business when things are not going so well. Is it time to pull up stakes or dig in your heels?

With the right frame of mind and a positive attitude, you will choose the latter. Tough times mean reevaluating your priorities. If you still believe in your product or service, you will do what you need to do so it doesn’t disappear.

Love is infectious, even in business. Your winning attitude will motivate you, staff and family to pitch in wherever they can. It might be making dinner so you can work longer hours through the week on business tasks. The trade off can be more family time on the weekends.

Staff will do what you need them to do when their efforts are appreciated. Employees who feel valued work harder and more effectively to get the job done. When you win, so do they. Keep in mind being appreciated doesn’t ALWAYS mean giving them more money either. Things like an email telling them what a good job they are doing, rewarding them with time off, and even giving them an opportunity to learn more are all great ways to show your staff you value them.

Loving what you do means that you won’t just sacrifice the business for quick fixes to problems. To remain successful, only solutions with the future in mind will do. The tough decision here could be passing up a deal that would hurt you down the road even if it temporarily increased business revenue right now.

A positive approach doesn’t make everything rosy, but it does help to make things bearable for the moment. You’ll be able to see the big picture when you open your mind. Any challenges and demands can then be met with grace and fortitude. Loving what you do plays a major role in business success and longevity.

You don’t have to go out to your nearest computer store and purchase any software. Most of what you need is available on the Internet for free or a small fee. If they offer a free trial, use it. At least you will learn how the process works and if that particular software works for you.

Here are a few software tools for finding appropriate keywords for your website. All of these are free tools but some offer more features for a paid subscription.

1.     Wordtracker (http://www.freekeywords.wordtracker.com) – There is no way that you could possibly think of all the different combinations of words that are used to find results in your niche. That is where software like Wordtracker comes in handy. Using the list of possible keywords you have compiled, choose a keyword to enter into the program. The software will return all possible combinations (according to your search parameters) and the number of searches for each. You may even notice a few that you haven’t thought of before. You can even compare results by search engine.

2.     Wordstream (http://www.wordstream.com/best-keyword-tool) – If you want to let the software pick the keywords for you, here are a few tools that you can use. Wordstream returns keyword suggestions that work well for content and pay-per-click ads. You can also manage your keywords. You will be able to pick form the best words and phrases for your niche.

3.     Overture (http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion) – This keyword tool is brought to you by Yahoo. It is now called Yahoo! Search Marketing. Using this search engine, the tool returns results for a variety of keywords and how many searches are done for them. You can choose to keep or discard the ones that have too many search results and opt to exploit the keywords that have not been overdone.

4.     Keyword Discovery (http://keyworddiscovery.com) – This tool will return the best keyword results from one keyword that you enter. It pulls information from over 100 search engines to compile a focused list.

It all starts with keywords. If you pick the right ones, you can definitely find a profitable website. Using these tools can help you narrow your search even further than the list you came up with. Which ones will be winners? You’ll have to test them and see.

Facebook can be a great marketing tool, if you’re aware of the many resources. Here are three great apps for your business:

Social RSS

If you have a blog, this app is a must. You can automatically post feeds, and people can subscribe to your blog via your Facebook profile.

Networked Blog Apps

When you enter your information on Networked Blogs, you have a nice frontpage within the application.  Once you gain followers, this can be a great tool to increase presence on Facebook.

Linkedin Profile

Linkedin is social networking for the serious professional. I will admit,  I don’t use Linkedin as much as the other social networks. But Linkedin does have its place. Linkedin is great to build lasting connections, find business partners, and exchange business ideas.   Once you set up the app, it places a tab on your profile, that displays your entire Linkedin page. Pretty cool!

Would you like help with Facebook Marketing?
Resources for Entrepreneurs

Drop everything you ever learned about writing long sales copy or blog headlines – Facebook ad headlines are different, yet again.

For one thing, you only have a rigid 25-characters for your Facebook ad headlines (no exceptions), so they must be short, punchy and eye-catching.

The best format is either something so off-the-wall your reader just has to click, to see what on earth you’re talking about… or that old standby, the question format.

Some examples…

“Ready to Make Six Figures?”
“Which Type are You?”
“Want a Virtual Horse?”

The advantage of a question format is that the “you” is implicit. You’re already speaking directly to the reader, just by adding that question mark. (Every time you eliminate the “you” that’s 3 whole characters you don’t have to include.)

Keep It Simple

Another way is to go for simplicity – and use action verbs such as.

- Play
- Avoid
- Try
- Fight
- Love

“Play Farm Wars” – accompanied by your signature branding graphic or a screen shot from the game, and your 125 character body text – does the trick nicely. Your reader will either play (and the chances are the ad’s being served to her because she already plays several games)… or not play. All the eloquence and clever keywords in the world aren’t going to change that.

Condense, Condense, Condense

Another way to make the most of your headlines? See where you can eliminate unnecessary words. (This will make your writing feel “tighter”, anyway.) “Do You Love Chocolate?” can easily be shortened to “Love Chocolate?”

Finally, there’s a difference between being enigmatic and being vague. “Love Chocolate?” – accompanied by an appropriate photo and a brief explanation (“Learn to make your own gourmet truffles!” and a link) – gets your message across much better than “Try this” (accompanied by no graphic and “For a thrilling experience click here” and a link).

In other words, the latter example didn’t pique curiosity, gave not even a hint about the subject… and appealed to no one.

Most inexperienced marketers dash through creating their Facebook headlines, but this is your most important component – the one that makes people either click… or not. Take your time, and really pay attention to the message you want to send.